Soul rock singer-songwriter straight outta Albany.

New music video “Bigger” premieres online Thursday, Sept. 17

A new music video for Albany, New York soul rocker Bryan Thomas’ song “Bigger” premieres online at www.bryanthomas.com Thursday, September 17 at 7 p.m.

The home brew video shows Thomas recording the song during an all-night session in his tiny basement studio. Vocals, guitars and bass were recorded live in front of the camera in a single take for each track.

The video also incorporates footage from the somewhat obscure 1956 film Native Son, which, like the song “Bigger”, is based on the classic American novel. Interestingly, the novel’s author, Richard Wright, plays the lead role of Bigger Thomas.

The Prequel: How ‘Bigger’ Was Born

How ‘Bigger’ was Born is a 30-minute prequel of sorts to the music video. It documents the songwriting process for “Bigger,” which took inspiration from Richard Wright’s foreword to Native Son (also titled “How ‘Bigger’ was Born”), as well as from James Baldwin’s critique of Wright’s novel in his essays “Everybody’s Protest Novel” and “Many Thousands Gone.”

The short film is currently in post-production and on track to be completed in October. The overwrought and self-indulgent project will most likely be made available only for private viewing with friends and family, for as long as they can stand it.

RSVP!

About BT

BRYAN THOMAS is a soul rock singer-songwriter from Albany, NY. The Albany Times Union named Thomas “Best Male Singer-Songwriter” shortly after he released his acoustic hip-hop debut Radio Plastic Jennifer in 1999. The follow-up soul rock epic Ones and Zeros was Metroland Magazine’s “Album of the Year” in 2002. Yes, that was a long time ago. But no worries: Bryan still makes music when he can.